There are many applications in the fields of semiconductor and superconductor manufacturing where processing in a vacuum is advantageous. One example of such vacuum processing is the production of thin films via vacuum deposition. The quality of the thin film thus produced depends upon the quality of the vacuum used. This makes thin film deposition suited to manufacture in space where a vacuum of better quality than obtainable on earth is readily available.
Thin film deposition in space has problems. Typical thin film deposition on earth requires many highly skilled operators and technicians to control the processes. These personnel also manually manipulate the substrates between various processing locations. Space processing of thin films using such personnel would be too expensive because of the high launch and support costs for these personnel. Thus some automated substrate manipulation is needed to make space thin film deposition economical.
Terrestrial robotic substrate handling systems generally employ a combination of suction and gravity to control the substrates. These techniques cannot be used in space because of the surrounding vacuum and the lack of gravity. Thus it would be useful to provide a robotic substrate manipulator capable of operating in space in order to take advantage of the readily available high quality vacuum.